Going straight(ish)
Alignment checks don’t go to plan
WHEEL ALIGNMENT, the front and rear wheels perfectly in line, is critical to good handling. It might get messed up by ham fisted chain adjustment. Or if the bike’s had a knock. It’s worth checking on a secondhand bike, or if you’ve had the back wheel out. You can get laser alignment tools, and some folk use string, but I use a pair of aluminium straight edges. Buy some at your local metal factor. They must be rigid enough to remain straight. Angle section may be better than the square section that I use. Put the bike on a paddock stand or centre stand (the centre stand may obstruct the rulers) and run the straight edges from front to back wheel on both sides. Put the front of the rules on a block and then tension them together with a strap through the rear wheel spokes. Don’t use too much pressure or you’ll distort the tyre. Ideally you’d take the alignment at the wheel rim, not the tyre, but that level of accuracy is academic for most of us. With the steering pointing straight ahead the gap between the straight edges should be even on both sides of the front wheel (assuming it has a narrower tyre). If not you tweak the position of the rear wheel (use the adjuster on the opposite side of the wheel to the chain) until you’ve got it right. It’s a bit of a faff. The straight edges must be running true, and you need to re-check the alignment after tightening the axle to make sure that nothing has moved. Once it’s set accurately you can ignore the markings on the swingarm when adjusting the chain, just move each side’s adjuster by the same amount and it should remain in line. If you can’t get it to line up, or if you’ve got the adjusters on each side of the wheel set significantly differently, then something might be bent. Maybe you need to get it put onto a Motoliner and have it professionally checked. I got the wheels of the Camel to line up with a variance in the axle adjusters of 3mm. That wouldn’t worry me unduly, but the chain is out of line too. String stretched between the outside faces of the sprockets is clear of the front edge of the wheel sprocket. Sadly my bike requires remedial attention.